HTX (Huobi)

Is HTX safe?

HTX is an offshore exchange with a weaker record than most large platforms. It promised to repay users after two hot-walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary hacks in late 2023, but it has no licence in a strict jurisdiction, its reserve reports are its own work, and Malaysia's securities regulator ordered it to leave the country in 2023. We score it 39/100, close to Bitfinex and well below KuCoin.

If you hold coins there, the main risk is not a single hack. It is that a company with little outside oversight has your assets, and few courts or regulators would help if it froze withdrawals.

What happened in the 2023 hacks

HTX lost money from its hot walletsHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary twice in about two months. In late September 2023 about $8 million was taken. On 22 November 2023 a much larger attack hit both HTX and HECO Chain, the blockchain linked to the exchange. The security firm Cyvers first put the exchange loss at $13.6 million from three hot wallets, a figure later revised to about $30 million. The HECO bridge lost about $86.6 million in the same attack. Cyvers suspected leaked private keys.

Justin Sun, who advises HTX, said the exchange would fully compensate hot-wallet losses and that user funds were safe. HTX paused deposits and withdrawals and restarted services about three days later. We found no report of exchange customers losing balances, which keeps the score in the 50s rather than lower. Two key compromises in a row still point to weak key management.

Who runs HTX and where is it licensed?

Huobi was founded in China in 2013 and moved offshore after China banned crypto trading. In 2022 it was sold, and in 2023 it took the HTX name. When Malaysia acted in May 2023, it named Huobi Global Limited as the operator. HTX's "Global Licensed Businesses" page lists only two items: a no-objection certificate from Pakistan's new crypto regulator and unnamed payment and remittance registrations in South America. It does not say which company holds them.

Jurisdiction	Status
United States, UK, Japan	Not licensed
European Union	Not on ESMA's MiCAMiCAThe EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which requires crypto exchanges and other providers to be licensed and supervised.More in the glossary register (October 2026)
Pakistan	No-objection certificate from PVARA (12 December 2025), a first step towards a licence, not a licence
Hong Kong	Licence application withdrawn
Malaysia	Ordered to stop operating (May 2023)
Thailand	Local Huobi exchange licence revoked (2022)

The Pakistan certificate is an early step. Under PVARA's process for the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, a firm with a no-objection certificate must still register with the Financial Monitoring Unit, set up a company in Pakistan and then apply for a VASP licence.

Malaysia's Securities Commission said Huobi had run an unregistered exchange, ordered it to disable its website and apps and stop marketing there, and told users to withdraw their assets. Sun said the order concerned the previous owners. Either way, the pattern is an exchange that serves many countries without permission.

Proof of reserves without an auditor

HTX publishes a monthly proof of reservesProof of reservesA report in which a crypto exchange shows that it holds enough coins to cover all customer balances, ideally checked by an outside firm.More in the glossary. It takes a snapshot of user balances, builds a Merkle treeMerkle treeA way to combine many records into one short code, so that each person can check their own record is included without seeing anyone else's.More in the glossary so each user can check their own entry, and divides HTX's on-chain assets by total user assets to get a reserve ratio. Counting liabilities is the right method, and it is better than Bitfinex, which publishes none.

The limits matter. No accounting firm signs the reports. The page says some reserves are held in custodial wallets run by third parties and that you should contact those custodians to check them, without naming them. HTX does not publish audited financial statements, so you cannot see its debts or whether user coins could be pledged elsewhere.

The Justin Sun factor

Sun is HTX's best-known figure, and his legal record affects how far you can trust the platform. In March 2023 the US SEC sued Sun, the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent-linked companies, alleging wash trading of TRX and undisclosed celebrity promotions. In March 2026 the claims against Sun and the foundations were dismissed with prejudice, and Rainberry, a Sun-controlled company, agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty without admitting or denying the allegations. HTX itself was not a defendant.

How to limit your risk on HTX

1. Do not use HTX as a wallet. Buy or sell what you need and withdraw to your own wallet the same day.
2. Turn on an authenticator app or security key, an anti-phishing code and a withdrawal address allowlist.
3. Check whether your country restricts HTX before signing up; accounts in restricted countries can be frozen with little notice.
4. Ignore offers of high fixed yields on "Earn" products; they add HTX's own credit risk to the exchange risk.
5. For a licensed alternative, compare Kraken or the exchanges regulated in your country.

How we scored it

Licensing (15) is the weakest factor: HTX has no licence in any strict jurisdiction and has been pushed out of Malaysia and Thailand. Security history (55) is the strongest, because HTX promised to cover both 2023 hot-walletHot walletA crypto wallet connected to the internet, such as an app or an exchange's online wallet. It is convenient, but more exposed to hacking.More in the glossary losses, although twice in two months is a poor record. Reserves score 42, as monthly self-published reports with liabilities beat nothing but fall short of an audit.